ZVex Box of Metal Review – Best Metal Distortion Pedal?

Summary:

The ZVex Box of Metal aims to be your one-stomp box for delivering crushing heavy metal gain. While this pedal may appear to be aimed at metalheads looking for their next gain fix, I discovered that there’s a bit more to this box than meets the eye. Is it the best distortion pedal for maxed-gain metal oblivion. Our ZVex Box of Metal review will help you find the answer.

Before I dive into the review, let’s run down the features of this pedal.

I plugged in my humbucker-equipped Gibson SG and went straight into a flat clean amp setting.

With the EQ and Gain knobs set at noon I fired up the Box of Metal and was greeted by a wave of gain.

The sound is moderately fuzzy in a very good way, akin to a more “metal” version of the ZVex Fat Fuzz Factory or Fuzz Factory 7pedals. But this pedal definitely has a unique character all its own compared to other high gain distortion and fuzz pedals. The bottom end is quite loose and spongy, making this pedal well-suited for sludgier styles of high gain rock and doomier metal. The Box of Metal has a real deep sound, like playing a Triple Rectifier through a 4×12 cabinet.

The Box of Metal really shines when letting big chords ring out. Chords sustain with a nice saturated gain. Even at the lowest gain settings the Box of Metal still delivers plenty of distortion.

To tighten up the bottom end and overall output of the pedal, use the Gate and pull back the knob around 3 o’clock or so. This can help you find very usable settings for staccato riff stabs. It’s also great when strumming loose, raunchy riffs that are perfectly muted between any moments of silence.

You might even prefer to use this pedal to sculpt your perfect lead tone for solos. You can find settings with a compressed, fuzz-like character making the Box of Metal adept at crafting searing lead tones.

The EQ controls are quite interactive and can create filtered-sounding distortion tones. There are some very interesting textures to be found here, making this pedal a great choice for tonal explorers. The Box of Metal might be very interesting to have in the studio when you want to layer and blend some different guitar tones to create wholly original sounds. These aren’t your typical metal distortion tones, and the BOM is definitely worthy of checking out for anyone looking for an aggressive dirt box that’s a little different from other guitar pedals.

Let’s see the end result.

The ZVex Box of Metal is more than just a metal distortion pedal. This pedal is packed with usable distortion sounds and allows you to tailor some very interesting high gain textures. This box just might help you find a great signature sound for crafting your own hard rock and metal masterpieces. The Gate function also lets your sound punch through the mix with authority and clarity while cutting off sharply for pummeling metal riff blasts. If you’re looking for a unique take on metal distortion, the ZVex Box of Metal might the the best metal distortion pedal for you.